Inaugural commemoration gala this Sunday

In recognition of the community’s decade-long commitment to its efforts, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life will host an inaugural gala on Sunday. The event, dubbed Heart & Soul, is a fundraiser to support the chabad’s youth, social services and educational programs, as well as a celebration of those who have supported the organization.

In the face of rising anti-Semitism nationwide, coupled with the recent synagogue shooting at the Chabad of Poway in San Diego, the Merrick Jewish Centre, which takes in congregants from Merrick and Bellmore, is instituting new security measures, including armed guards.

As Tom Bazzicalupo walked the halls of the North Bellmore Public Library on Aug. 29, his emotions ran high. The director’s retirement was approaching, encouraging staff — some had worked alongside him for nearly three decades — to say their goodbyes.

A new multi-specialty health care facility commissioned by Northwell Health will open in Merrick on Sept. 16. Signs with the company’s logo hang on either side of a building at 2119 Merrick Road — formerly Total Fitness — showing the latest location for Northwell’s Physician Partners Medicine Specialties group.

The age-old saying “when one door closes, another opens” holds true in the restaurant business, and Bellmore-Merrick is no exception. But in the case of Bayou Jones, a new Cajun/Creole restaurant that opened on June 11, it took two doors —two restaurants — to close before it opened.

With its shelves freshly lined with books and magazines and a slew of new technological offerings, the North Bellmore Public Library opened on Aug. 20, inviting a crowd of residents inside. The building’s more than year-long construction project concluded with a ribbon cutting that afternoon.

Fifteen seniors from the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District will trade their pencils for power tools this year, as the district launches its new electrical training program for students who want to pursue careers in the trade industry.

On Aug. 6, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law that will allow counties, cities, towns and villages throughout the state to outfit their school buses with cameras to catch motorists illegally driving past them while their stop signs are out.

Age has its privileges. The big kids are off to college, the little ones are back in school, parents are kick-starting weekday routines, everyone has the back-to-business jitters, and me? I’m hanging at the beach.